Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-02-14
THE LAST SLAVE SALE.

Mr.. John Reynolds, OF Ohio County. Tells
an Interesting Little Story.
The following interesting bit of history
is taken from the Washington Reporter:
81 remember very well the sale Of the
last negro in this county at auction" said
John Reynolds, an old resident of Ohio
county, West Virginia, last week. 'There
was a public sale ofthe effects Of an estate
of a man by the name Of Higgs, near
Wheeling, and among the effects was .
good field hand, a powerful, well built
negro man. Thomas McConn, Esq, n Of
the oldest citizens and magistrates in the
State was the a%uctiOneer. The attendance
was large, rs the sale of negroes was rather
a novelty. Some of the veal thiest and
most influential farmers of the county, rs
well as merchants and business men Of
Wheeling, were there. The negro was
started at $500 and went mp to $500,
where he WAS knocked down to John Cos
horn, q merchant of Wheeling, and a large
land holder in the county. The negro
was well known and as he vas taken
along the National road towards Wheel
ing, hundreds came out to see him, and
bid him good bye. l had not seen such q
sight since the day that old Hickory
Jackson made his last journey from
Washington to Wheeling to take the
boat home TO Tennessee. The negro
was set to work OF q farm near
Wheeling, but lived only q few months.
There was never another negro sold in the
county, for within y short time the wal
broke out and nearly all of the slave
holders hustled across the line in order
to get out of the Union Mrs. Lydia
Cruger was the last of the slave holders.
She kept q dozen or fifteen till the procla-
nation of President Lincoln liberated
them. Mrs. Cruger's farm lies four miles
east of Wheeling, on the National road,
and is at present owned and cultivated by
Major Loring. She died along in the lat
of the sixties ut the age of lO2 years. Her
first husband, Colonel Sheppard, and her
last husband, Colonel Moses Cruger, were
both gentlemen of National fame. The
mansion of Mrs. Cruger was the stopping
place of Henry Clay, James X. Polk,
Andrew Jackson, John c. Calhoun and
scores OF Others of National prominence
from 1920 to 1860. Henry Clay was wont
to send his colored body servant n day
ahead of him TO call on Mrs. Cruger to
notify her of his approach and ask the
courtesy Of hospitality for one night. The
occasion of Mr.. Clay's visit was always
signalized by a reception to the aristocra-
cy OF the county and not q few Of the
older residents of Wheeling recall with
feelings of pleasure the Clay visits TO the
Cruger mansion. So great was Mrs.
Cruger's admiration Of the Kentucky
statesman that she had 3 monument
erected in the most prominent corner OF
her grounds. This corner happened 10
front on the National road, Clay's own
most imperishablc monument, and II Ia
pointed ont to-day ~ the enduring relic
of the lady's regard for the great Wing
apostle. Mrs. Cruger, AZ q slave holder,
was n model. OF the dozen or fifteen
slaves held by Mrs. Cruger, not once Of them
could complain of his or her condition Of
involuntary servitude. They did not work,
as the old lady persisted in managing her
estate herself despite the tokens of senility
that forced themselves on her heirs. She
had not for many years sold a slave, but
frequently bought them. She was often
heard to remark that she had seen the
rise me fall of the slave system in this
country, and she herself was perhaps the
only Shareholder who stood by and saw
the liberation of her slaves without re-